• 5
• a wonderful, eye-opening experience

i chanced upon sleeping strawberry while googling for hostels in seoul and was intrigued by its concept. without any knowledge of seoul, i was hesitant that it might be slightly away from the more famous tourist districts, but booking it was probably the best decision i made for our short, first trip to seoul. sleeping strawberry is a small and cosy ladies-only hostel in a quiet, safe and convenient location (hongdae, one of the university districts), near metro lines 2 (hongik university, which connects to the airport) and 6 (sinchon). my mum and i stayed in a room with a bunk bed, sofa and table. pillows were made of buckwheat (i think?), which were surprisingly comfortable. everything about the place resonates environmental- and social-consciousness, from its very organised recycling system, homemade skin/haircare products, to its homemade breads and jams for breakfast. we signed up for a cooking class, which involved hostel owner ue bringing us by bus to a local market and two co-ops, followed by a hands-on cooking session, after which we had a lovely dinner with ue and her friend/ex-guest. if not for this session, we would not have known about or ventured into that area of seoul. ue is a warm and helpful person, and it felt like staying at a friend's home rather than a hostel. she invited us to join her and other friends for a seoul living design fair (which again was something we wouldn't have known about otherwise) and also an easter mass (which we would have attended if we'd had the time). if we get a chance to visit seoul again, we would love to join her hikes along the seoul city wall and also do some gardening at the farm. the day before i left, i asked ue where i could find vegetarian kimchi. she told me that it could be ordered online (which was too late for me by then), but offered to make some for me. i ended up bringing home a huge box of kimchi, along with lots of wonderful memories of my and my mum's trip to seoul. i would highly recommend this hostel to solo female travellers, even those who are non/pre-vegetarians. i also recommend a visit to "the bread blue" nearby: http://www.happycow.net/reviews/the-bread-blue-seoul-53248 Updated from previous review on Sunday July 12, 2015